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** Lifehouse

NO NAME FACE

(DreamWorks)

“Hanging by a Moment,” the breakthrough hit from college-age LA heartthrobs Lifehouse, is fist-pumping nouveau grunge at its sweetest. “I’m falling even more in love with you, ” sings frontman Jason Wade in his silly Eddie-Vedder-by-way-of-Scott-Stapp bray as the song’s tender opening guitar line gives way to a time-tested car crash of a chorus. But modern-rock fans won’t FInd much else to get riled up about on No Name Face — Wade’s voice aside, Lifehouse are more like the next Eagles than the next Creed. The band adopt an easygoing California-rock æsthetic on most of the disc, working with the same team that produced the FIrst album by former Lilith teen hopeful Kendall Payne (including Payne herself, who sings back-up on “Trying”). They come up as short on hooks as they do on big guitars, relying instead on a busy assortment of strings and keyboards to make their tunes stand out. Wade’s songwriting is decidedly downbeat: brushing aside the glow of “Hanging by a Moment,” he spends the rest of the disc pondering the meaning of life. On the soporific “Breathing,” he even tries his hand at a Stapp-like oblique dialogue with God. Maybe next time the band will remember to extract the rock from the Creed formula.

— Sean Richardson